Celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain who has had his various food and travel shows come to South Korea multiple times was found dead of suicide in France:
Anthony Bourdain in South Korea filming his show Parts Unknown.
“It is with extraordinary sadness we can confirm the death of our friend and colleague Anthony Bourdain,” CNN said in a statement Friday morning. “His love of great adventure, new friends, fine food and drink and the remarkable stories of the world made him a unique storyteller. His talents never ceased to amaze us, and we will miss him very much. Our thoughts and prayers are with his daughter and family at this incredibly difficult time.”
President Trump also said he was shocked to hear of Bourdain’s death.
“That was very shocking when I woke up this morning,” Trump told reporters at the White House before heading to the G7 Summit. “I enjoyed his show. He was quite a character, I will say. But, so, I just want to extend my condolences and also to the family of Kate Spade.” Spade, the famed handbag designer, committed suicide earlier this week. [Yahoo News]
You can read more at the link, but Bourdain really enjoyed Korean food. Here is what he had to say about Korean chefs:
I have, for some time, believed that the chefs doing the most interesting work in America — chefs who are in fact redefining what “American food” means — are Korean.
When I go out for dinner with non-Korean chef friends, all they want these days is Korean food. They get excited by the deep, tangy, spicy funk of kimchi; thrilled by the little plates of pickles and snacks that accompany the main courses; intrigued by what is, to them, often a whole new spectrum of flavors.
Date night with my wife? Korean barbecue. And God help me, among a very small circle of friends — all of them sworn to secrecy, and on all of whom I possess horrifying and incriminating photographic evidence that ensures their eternal silence — I have, after much soju, actually gone to Korean karaoke. [CNN]
One of my favorite episodes of Bourdain’s original show No Reservations was when he traveled to South Korea with a Korean-American who worked in his office. They had a lot of fun in that episode. You can view the episode at this link.
Finally condolences to Bourdain’s family and friends.
I was born in what was then one of the poorest countries in the world. But my parents had high aspirations for themselves and their children. I became @WorldBank president. Never give up on your dreams. Poverty is not destiny. #InheritPossibilitypic.twitter.com/xvGZdsGj8q
Korean tourism numbers may be up on Guam, but they are not spending nearly as much as Japanese tourists:
Yeon Hee Oh, left, and Hong Kyu Kim, tourists visiting the island from Seoul, Korea, together strike a comical pose for a photo during a stop at Puntan Dos Amantes, or Two Lovers Point, on Saturday, March 31, 2018.
Visitor arrivals from Korea are making up for a decline in arrivals from Japan, but since last summer, Guam Visitors Bureau officials have noted the average Korean tourist spends much less on island than the average Japanese tourist.
Lately, they’ve been spending about one-third of what the average Japanese visitor spends here, according to the tourism agency.
As of January, the average Japanese traveler spent about $578 per day on island, compared to only $187.40 per day for a Korean traveler. The figures are similar for February, according to GVB, although that spending report hasn’t been released.
“We’re seeing a lot more cost-conscious visitors,” Nico Fujikawa, GVB tourism research director, said about visitors from Korea. “They’re looking for a deal. They’re kind of like locals.” [Guam PDN]
Here is an interesting immigration story involving a retired US Army Lieutenant Colonel and his adopted Korean daughter:
Retired Army Lt. Col. Patrick Schreiber is hoping his family — adopted daughter Hyebin and wife Soo Jin Schreiber — can stay in the country. Schreiber assumed he and his wife had time to adopt their Korean-immigrant niece, then 15, as their daughter. They didn’t realize that children brought into the country should be adopted before age 16 to be allowed access to U.S. citizenship.
A retired Army lieutenant colonel with six tours of duty, Patrick Schreiber says that his failure to gain an understanding of immigration law is “the greatest regret in my life.”
Because it now could mean having to move his family to South Korea next year so he, his wife and adopted daughter could stay together.
In 2013, just before he deployed to Afghanistan as a chief intelligence officer, Schreiber of Lansing, Mich. assumed he and his wife had time to adopt a Korean-immigrant niece, then 15, as their daughter. Having consulted with an adoption attorney, he thought the cut-off date to legally adopt would be her 18th birthday.
“I assumed wrong,” he says now, having adopted the girl when she was 17.
Too late, according to the government. A federal statute says that children brought into the country should be adopted before age 16 to be allowed access to U.S. citizenship.
As a result, deportation could await daughter Hyebin, a junior studying chemical engineering at the University of Kansas. [Stars & Stripes]
You can read more at the link, but it seems that US immigration laws need to have a process to apply for an exception to policy for unusual circumstances like this. With that said since she is studying chemical engineering I would be surprised if she isn’t able to get a work visa to stay in the US after graduating from college.
Hopefully this gets worked out, but even the worst case scenario of having to go back to South Korea is not that bad. It isn’t like she is going to some third world country and South Korea is where she has spent the vast majority of her life at. I have feeling this will work its self out, but I do find it interesting the difficulty this family is having trying to legally immigrate their adopted daughter to the US while the children of illegal immigrants continue to get special treatment under US immigration laws.
